Buoyant garment



C. DERUAZ BUOYANT GARMENT Nov. 17, 1970 Filed Se t. 16, 1968 FIG. 4 p

1 mm #11 F A f K 1 I \A A #44 2 y w c 11 -F H F INVENT OR ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,540,067 BUOYANT GARMENT Colette Deruaz, 64 Rue de la Charite, Lyon, Rhone, France Filed Sept. 16, 1968, Ser. No. 760,039 Claims priority, application1 7France, Sept. 14, 1967,

Int. Cl. time 9/10 U.S. Cl. 9-342 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to buoyant garments in the form of belts or vests or the like for swimming or lifesaving, in which buoyancy is imparted to the garment by fairly thick bodies of material of very low density such as foam rubber, expanded plastic foam or the like, these buoyant bodies being disposed in cells or pockets in the garment.

In the past, garments thus constructed have suffered from the disadvantage that they are relatively inflexible and therefore reduce the freedom of movement of the wearer.

In addition, monolithic construction of buoyant elements does not permit much variation in their cross-sectional configuration, and this in turn does not permit much variation in buoyancy from place to place in the garment and moreover gives a bulky appearance to the garment.

The present invention overcomes these difliculties of the prior art, in that the buoyant members or bodies in the garment are comprised of a stack or pile of a plurality of laminae, preferably in the form of strips, of flexible material of very low density, such as foam rubber or expanded plastic foam or the like, so that when the wearer moves, the strips will bend and slide one on the other to impart high flexibility to the garment.

In addition, the length of the strips progressively varies to obtain a variable cross-sectional configuration from place to place in the buoyant member or body. As a result, when the thicker part of the buoyant member is at an upper portion of the garment, the upper portion of the garment will have a desired greater buoyancy than the lower portion of the garment, thereby aiding the wearer to remain upright in the water. Furthermore, the tapering of the buoyant bodies in this manner imparts an aesthetically attractive shape to the garment.

The cells or pockets in which the buoyant bodies are disposed may be formed from two thicknesses of fabric stitched together along spaced lines or even by cross pieces.

The strips which comprise the buoyant body are preferably interconnected with each other at one end of the stack, which in turn is preferably the end opposite the end at which the strips are cut off at progressively different lengths.

The invention will be further understood by reference to the accompanying drawing, by which one form of construction is disclosed solely by way of example, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a buoyant body forming a subcombination of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the body shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 2 but showing the body flexed; and

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of a garment showing the provision therein of buoyant bodies as in FIGS. 13.

Each of the buoyant bodies is comprised by a plurality of flexible superposed strips la-lf of foam rubber or expanded plastic foam, of progressively shorter length from 1a to If and which are interconnected at their opposite ends only, by means of a fastener 2. This fastened end will be the upper end of the buoyant body in the garment.

When the stack of strips is flexed, as during movement by the wearer, the strips are thus free to slide one on the other between the positions shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, which sliding movement greatly reduces the effort of bending the stack and thus imparts much greater flexibility to the garment than could be obtained heretofore.

As will be seen from FIG. 4, the buoyant bodies thus constructed are disposed and retained in the longitudinally vertically extending cells or pockets formed by lines of stitching 3 that join together the outer fabric 4 and the inner lining 5 of the vest 6. The buoyant bodies are disposed in the vest so that they extend vertically and their greatest cross-sectional configuration is at the upper part of the body so as to provide the greatest buoyancy at that place and thereby aid in keeping the wearer upright in the water. In addition, the downward tapering of the buoyant body by cutting off the strips at different lengths also tapers the contour of the garment and makes it attractive in appearance.

The portion 7 of the garment located below the belt or waistband 8 may also be provided with buoyant bodies comprised of stacked strips; but in the illustrated embodiment these buoyant bodies below the belt are of shorter length than those above the belt.

From a consideration of the foregoing disclosure, therefore, it will be evident that the initially recited objects of the present invention have been achieved.

Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in connection with a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention, as those skilled in this art will readily understand. Such modifications and variations are considered to be within the purview and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A buoyant garment comprising a plurality of elongated pockets that extend vertically in parallelism to each other, and in each of a plurality of said pockets a stack of superposed elongated flat strips of a flexible buoyant material, means securing the strips together at one end,

those portions of the strips which are spaced from said one end being free to slide on and relative to each other, the strips extending to progressively different lengths at their ends opposite said securing means so that the thickness of the stack progressively decreases in a direction 5 away from said one end.

2. A garment as claimed in claim 1, there being a said stack of strips disposed in each of said pockets.

3. A garment as claimed in claim 1, said secured ends of said strips being disposed uppermost and said opposite 10 ends of said strips being disposed lowermost.

4 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner J. E. PITTENGER, Assistant Examiner 

